A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.
We've looked at Dave Sim's notebook #33, the final Cerebus notebook, twice with the last time being in November of 2015 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk. The first time we look at it was The Final Notebook. It covers issues Cerebus #265 though 300.
Cerebus #267, If Five-Bar Gate Be My Destiny, is Cerebus' time as a Five-Bar gate player who, much like the Toronto Maple Leafs, had a long losing streak, but unlike the Leafs, Cerebus broke his streak.
Fred Hammer |
There are a couple pages in notebook #33 that have notes for issue #267. None have any sketches, just text. It was the text on page 6 that made me pause.
Notebook #33, page 6 |
But on page six shown above, you see that Paul "Coffee" Annan's wife stands up and started screaming at Cerebus
Instead of that gut punch, we get a left hook with Cerebus heading south to get the Cirinists to kill him.
4 comments:
Definitely the better choice, what we got in the book. Probably for the best that we don't get too much into "what" Cerebus is (am I crazy, or did Dave suggest once that while he's seen as an aardvark, Cerebus is really just a weird looking short dude?). We should have forgotten about Jaka for all that time, and not had ANY mention of her, until that gut punch (at? near? the end -- can't remember when exactly it is in Latter Days) where we get the reveal of who Cerebus has been telling all of this to.
Speaking of that end, was I the only one who had a "Usual Suspects" thought to the end of Latter Days?
Two of my favorite "mini-scenes" in the entire epic are in Latter days. For some reason, I love that goose sliding across the ice and that bit where Cerebus guffaws about a talking snake. Those kill me. (Pretty sure those are in Latter Days.)
All right, all right, if you are going to pester me, I will provide pincites, pages 103 and 285.
Ah, the day begins!
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